SRINAGAR: Chief minister Omar Abdullah showered fulsome praise Tuesday on “great visionary” Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the assembly while lamenting that J&K “would not have been where it is at present had the former PM’s road map” for the region been followed.
Alluding to the BJP-led Centre’s 2019 abrogation of Article 370 and statehood, Omar suggested J&K wouldn’t have been downgraded if Vajpayee’s road map had been adhered to in spirit. “Unfortunately, the path shown by Vajpayee has been left mid-way and instead of connecting people, distances are being created,” National Conference (NC) vice-president and CM said on the second day of the inaugural assembly session of J&K as a Union territory (UT).
Speaking during obituary references to 57 leaders who passed away in the past decade, Omar struggled to find words to eulogise the former BJP stalwart. “What should I say about the late Vajpayee. He was a towering personality who started the Lahore bus and went to Minar-e-Pakistan. He always tried to build friendly ties with Pakistan. He was the one who continuously said friends can be changed, not neighbours,” Omar said.
The CM recalled Vajpayee’s slogan of “Jhamoriyat, Kashmiriyat aur Insaniyat (Democracy, Kashmiri ethos and humanity)” as an example of the ex-PM’s unmatched vision. “Perhaps, he was the first and the last leader who raised this slogan,” Omar said.
The CM reminisced about another instance when the J&K assembly had passed a resolution over two decades ago calling for greater autonomy, only for it to be returned by the Vajpayee-led cabinet. “But later, Vajpayee realised the decision was taken in haste. He asked the then law minister to hold talks with (then governing) NC leaders. But progress couldn’t be made further. When Vajpayee passed away, things changed drastically,” Omar said.
Monday’s obituary references mentioned lawmakers from Ladakh and Kargil. Omar noted this was, perhaps, the last time the assembly was paying tributes to such members as Ladakh and Kargil were not part of Jammu and Kashmir anymore after the Aug 2019 abrogation cleaved the erstwhile state into two UTs — Ladakh and J&K.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Udhampur-East MLA RS Pathania referred to Monday’s controversial move by PDP member Waheed Para to move a resolution challenging the abrogation of Article 370, sparking bedlam in the House. Pathania demanded to know how media had covered the row when a “copy of the resolution hadn’t reached the Speaker”. Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather of NC admitted he hadn’t received the document but requested Pathania to stick to obituary references. CM Omar termed Parra’s move an attempt “to play to the gallery”.
